OCC Chancellor Meyer receives no confidence vote from faculty union

Oakland Community College Chancellor Timothy Meyer received a vote of no confidence Friday from an association representing more than 290 of its full-time college faculty during a previously scheduled meeting at its Auburn Hills campus.

The Oakland Community College Faculty Association passed the vote of no confidence by about a 93 percent vote among 256 faculty members present, against Meyer, who has been chancellor since 2008. About a dozen more absentee voting ballots were expected to come in shortly from faculty who were absent or teaching, said Association President Mary Ann McGee.

"It's very much this individual's management style that we think is autocratic and not inclusive," McGee said of the vote against Meyer. "And our belief is you can't serve as (chancellor, as) the leader of just one group of people. You need to be the leader of the entire campus community."

In a statement Friday, Meyer said he was surprised by the union's vote and committed to making changes necessary to OCC's future.

Following the union vote, OCC Board chairman Daniel Kelly, a partner at Troy-based Giarmarco Mullins & Horton PC, issued a statement on behalf of the board supporting Meyer. "The Board of Trustees absolutely supports Dr. Meyer and his vision to shepherd the college through these times of change," he said. "When faced with challenging decisions, it's natural to want to resist them. As stewards of the community, the Board will make and support the difficult decisions needed to improve the College."

It is the first vote of no confidence in the history of the college, which began offering courses in 1965, and the first such vote against Meyer in his career.

The no confidence vote is advisory in nature. The faculty plans to submit the vote to the board, but the board is not required to act on it.

Largely at issue, McGee said, is the makeup of the college Academic Senate, which oversees issues of academic material and performance, and includes faculty members along with paraprofessional and management or administrative officials at the college that are elected to serve, McGee said.

Management and administrative officials not elected to the Senate received notice by email from Meyer not to participate in senate meetings any longer. School administrators said Meyer was concerned that the senate was involving itself in operational, non-academic matters, and the college had convened new community assemblies on each of its five campuses to discuss operations.

"Sometimes 20-40 administrative staff would attend but not participate. We cannot afford the luxury of them attending the meetings, where they're not vital," said Vice Chancellor of External Affairs Sharon Miller.

McGee also pointed out that two other committees that used to review operations issues -- the College Planning Council, and Council for Academic and Student Services -- haven't met for more than two and a half years.

Other concerns cited by the faculty union on Friday in a statement on the vote included Meyer's lack of attendance of faculty relations meetings, a low ratio of full-time employees and instructors to students, recent raises paid out to administrators and a loss of funding for tutors in college academic support centers.

"Historically there has been a spaghetti bowl of committees that existed on every campus, and we've been restructuring it," Miller said. "We've been in the process of reconnecting the tissues of the ecosystem. But we're also in a pretty vulnerable stage between planning and implementation."

Meyer in a statement Friday responding to the vote said OCC is making reforms it sees as necessary to the future, and similar to changes in other community colleges around the country.

"We are surprised by the faculty union's action," Meyer said. "We have very good relations with our unions. The faculty union is well aware of the challenges OCC faces, which include revenue shortfalls and ensuring we meet the challenges put forth by the community as a whole."

The college also does not plan to be deterred from its planned changes, Meyer said in that statement.

"We realize some resist change, even when compelling data exists to show that change is necessary," he said.